Credits & Description

Category: Best Use of Live Events, Stunts and or Celebrity Endorsement
Advertiser: GLAXOSMITHKLINE
Product/Service: VIVA
Group Account Director: Irfan Ahmed (JWT)
Senior Account Executive: Dishan Coilparampil (JWT)
Senior Executive - Non Traditional Media: Shakeel Hafeel (JWT)
Public Relations Executive: Shafiya Careem (JWT)
Copywriter-Sinhala: Nisansala Liyanage (JWT)
Senior Creative Director: Suminda Gamage (JWT)
Creative Group Head: Roshana Rasheed (JWT)
Senior Art Director: Dakshith Wekungoda (JWT)
Copywriter-Tamil: Jayanthi Thiyagalingam (JWT)
Account Manager: Dinali Forbes (JWT)
Senior Graphic Designer: Subash Pelawatta (JWT)
Senior Copywriter-English: Ralston Joseph (JWT)
Planner: Shanker Vamadeva (JWT)
Media placement: Print - Press Releases - 8th October 2010
Media placement: TV - Live TV Updates - 9th October 2010
Media placement: Radio - Live Radio Updates - 9th October 2010
Media placement: TV - Feature On Prime Time News - 9th October 2010
Media placement: Print - Coverage Acrossc Sunday Newspapers - 10th October 2010
Media placement: Web - News Websites,Videoblogs And Blogs. - 9th October 2010
Summary of the Campaign
Sri Lanka is a predominantly tea drinking nation where tea is usually consumed along with milk powder. The challenge was to break this habit and get the Sri Lankan tea drinker to use Viva malted food drink as the tea whitener instead of milk powder. The strategy was to create talkability around this subject by leveraging Sri Lanka's heritage as a premier tea producing nation. The tactic used was to create the world’s largest tea cup made using Ceylon tea and Viva instead of milk powder.
The fact that this feat established a Guinness world record evoked a sense of pride and patriotism and made people sit up and notice the fact that Viva is best drunk with tea.
This PR initiative attracted massive local and international attention. The stunt was relayed live via radio and TV and showcased on all prime time news belts the same evening. Even the international media who up to now were only reporting the war and post war issues was suddenly presented with a positive aspect to the country.
The Situation
Viva had seen aggressive growth between 2008-2009. This growth was now plateauing due to competitor pressure and a stagnant category. Therefore a shift in focus was required in terms of market scope and Viva was to move from being a malted food drink to a tea whitener. There was opportunity in this move since full cream milk powder which is regularly used to whiten tea was more expensive and did not have the nutritional benefit of malted milk.
PR was required because it is the ideal tool to modify mindsets and convert people from using full cream milk powder to malted milk.
The Goal
Research suggests that Sri Lankans on average, consume 5 cups of tea a day and that Sri Lankans also consume on average 1 1/2 cups of malt a day. The goal for Viva was to get in and capture some part of the 5 cups of tea that is drunk every day. To do this Viva decided to target the time pressured adult who needed more than refreshment in his cup of tea. Viva would add energy and nutrition to every cup of tea.
The Strategy
The objective was to modify the association of "milk with tea" to "Viva with tea" and get the Sri Lankan tea drinker to use Viva malted food drink as the tea whitener instead of milk powder.
The strategy was to create talkability around this subject by leveraging Sri Lanka's heritage as a premier tea producing nation.
Initially the team approached “Guinness records” to check on the current record and the requirements to break it. The team set into constructing the Giant cup in steel. The cup was built 10 feet in height, 8 feet in width with a holding capacity that exceeded 4,000 litres.
Planning was done concerning the brewing of the required tea and also trials were done to check on the required preparation time:
- Invitations and confirmation of attendance by VIPs and Media.
- Pre publicity.
- Route clearance for the parade.
- Post event PR.
- Publicity amplification.
Execution
The cup was constructed at a workshop out of Colombo. Simultaneously the liquid was prepared on the location using 140 pounds of tea, 350 pounds sugar, 2000 pounds of Viva and 1,000 gallons of water.
Once the cup was constructed it was transported to the location of the event on a trailer/truck.
Once the tea reached the 4,000 litre mark a certified quantity surveyor certified that the record was broken, following with the breaking of the record was announced by the adjudicator from Guinness. Viva had broken the previous record by 1,000 liters.
The event was graced by a member from the presidential family and the captain of the national cricket Team Kumar Sangakkara.
Media covered the event and it was broadcast live. Once the record was broken the cup was taken on a parade across Colombo celebrating the victory. Mainstream media announced that the record for the largest cup of tea was broken by Viva.
Documented Results
- 30 Minutes of prime time news coverage.
- 69% recall of the event.
- 25% volume growth.
- Highest ever household market share of 27%.
- Penetrated 86,000 households in a month.
- Coverage in over 14 main publications
- Reached over 69,000 fans on the Sri Lankan cricket captain's Facebook fan page.
- Coverage in 25 international News and current affairs sites including BBC and CNBC.
- Over 30 minutes of footage and 5,000 comments on YouTube link.
- Live updates on 7 main radio stations.